


The Privilege of Loving a Prince

by darkgirl11



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Genre: BoruMitsu, BoruSaraMitsuMetal friendship, Brotherly Love, Land of the Moon, M/M, Mitsuki and Log, Mitsuki is a prince, Mitsuki likes his umbrella, Mitsuki's a badass, Reunion, Sage Mode, and his fan, because Mitsuki's the moon, bodyguard Boruto, bodyguard Metal, bodyguard Sarada, kinda slow burn, sage transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 02:11:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16714558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkgirl11/pseuds/darkgirl11
Summary: Dropped off and left in the kingdom of the Land of the Moon, Mitsuki didn't know what his life would have in store for him but there he was... the prince of the Land of the Moon. Stuck on an island with no friends, Mitsuki didn't know how to make friends but that's not a problem when he makes a visit to the Leaf and meets Boruto and his pals. But what happens when Mitsuki goes home and his friends seem to forget him?Years passed and Boruto thought life would be better once he became a chunin. He thought that now he could go on more solo missions but what he found was that he would be guarding a prince with his team. Boruto was never a fan of privileged kids but he’ll find that this prince is more than meets the eye.





	The Privilege of Loving a Prince

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back everyone! :) I know that this is a bit of an AU because Mitsuki is a prince but I tried to stick to the anime as much as possible with Mitsuki being a created clone and what not! I really hope that everyone likes it! I worked really hard on this like literally spent weeks on it... I'm hella proud of it so hopefully y'all will want more? I hope :) Anyways, thanks for reading!

He was given away at a young age and left at the doors of a kingdom called the Land of the Moon. Once the guards found the child in the basket, they brought it to the king and queen to see what they would want to do with the child. He looked to be a little older than one with golden yellow eyes and light blue hair. His skin was as white as snow and almost as cold as such. This child was absolutely beautiful.

The king and queen were reluctant to tell their people that they were infertile and would not be able to give the kingdom a child to one day surpass them. The guards wanted to give the child to an orphanage but the king and queen refused that offer and declared that they would adopt him. The child crawled over to the king and queen and smiled at them. They would name him Mitsuki and raise him as the prince of the Land of the Moon.

King Hikaru and his wife, Aino, knew that Mitsuki was different as they watched him start to grow. He was a brilliant child but he was far too naïve for his own good. They had lost Mitsuki numerous times when they would parade around the town. Mitsuki would tell his parents that someone would ask for help so he would try to help but he was only three. People wanted to kidnap him and sell him because of his beauty.

They also lost Mitsuki in their kingdom far too often for their liking. It wasn’t as if they just didn’t watch or take care of their child, they realized that Mitsuki was quiet silent and sneaky. He moved like a snake and was always able to get away from his parents and the guards. They could always find him in the library of the kingdom but there was one day they couldn’t find him there.

Mitsuki had stumbled into the poorly maintained garden and sat down, breathing softly as he began to meditate. He knew he was different. Other children would beg their parents for toys, especially if they were the child of royalty. But Mitsuki wanted nothing more than to meditate and become one with his surroundings. He wanted to be able to help one day but he didn’t know how he would do that.

“It seems you’ve grown quite nicely over these few years… what do they call you now?”

“I am Mitsuki. You seem quite familiar. Have we met?”

“Child, I am the one who created you.”

“Then who might you be?”

“I am Orochimaru,” Mitsuki turned to face the man talking, “I am from the Village Hidden in the Sound. You are a synthetic human. You are far more powerful than you realize, child. I knew I would only hold you back if I kept you with me. I wanted you to have a normal life here. I assumed you would be given to an orphanage but I see I was wrong. You will be in danger being a prince and I need to prepare you for it.”

The child closely observed the man before him. He was tall and had long black hair. He had those same yellow eyes but they were darker and looked almost sinister at times. This man had the same pale skin as he did. Mitsuki narrowed his eyes at the man, he looked like he was a snake. He didn’t know if he could trust this man but they already held such similarities. Mitsuki tilted his head and smiled at Orochimaru.

“What were your true intentions for leaving me here? Why didn’t you want me?”

Orochimaru seemed to flinch at that. Mitsuki continued to smile at him, causing the other male to sigh. The black-haired male answered softly, “I wanted to raise you as my own but I am not held in high regards where I am from. I wanted you to grow in a better environment so I brought you here to this island. I thought it would be the perfect location for you to live a happy life… a life where you don’t have to be a ninja.”

Orochimaru walked towards the child and got on his knees to be closer to eye level with him, “I can see now that you were never going to be a normal child no matter where I put you. You’re already working on chakra control at age three. You’re intelligent as well, not that I would expect anything less than a creation of mine.”

“Let me train you to be a ninja.”

“Do ninjas help people?”

“They’re supposed to.”

“I would like to be a ninja.”

Mitsuki had worked with Orochimaru for two years. During these two years he exceeded Orochimaru’s expectations to the point where the snake man dared to teach him medical ninjutsu. At age five, Mitsuki was a dangerous ninja with the medical skills of Orochimaru’s old teammate, Tsunade. Mitsuki would grow to be more powerful than him in a few years’ time.

Mitsuki had not told his parents of his encounters with Orochimaru in the garden. He didn’t believe that they needed to know that he was a ninja… that is until the day his mother had fallen ill. Doctors from all over the island had come to her aid but all of them could not cure her. The doctors had recommended a medical ninja to heal her, as the illness resided deep within her body. No amount of medicine could fix it.

Hikaru grew desperate, reaching out to an old friend in the Leaf for help. It would take far too long for them to send someone out there. By the time the medical ninja would get there, Aino would be dead. Mitsuki was not allowed to see his mother but fearing that it would be her last day, Hikaru allowed his son to see his mother one last time.

Mitsuki padded over to her where she lay in bed. He smiled at her, it was one of his emotionless looking ones but his mother loved it nonetheless. Aino’s skin had paled to the point where she looked like she could have given birth to Mitsuki. Everyone could tell that she was slowly deteriorating over the course of her illness.

She put a hand on Mitsuki’s face and smiled back at him as she whispered, “I wish that I could see you grow into the beautiful boy I know you’ll be… I wish that I could stay with you a little while longer, my moon.”

Aino smiled again as her son crawled onto the bed with her and sat beside her. Hikaru watched as Aino appeared to grow weaker by the moment. He would soon lose the woman he loved. He needed her at his side, they were the team who raised Mitsuki and brought peace to an entire kingdom. Hikaru knew that Mitsuki would be heartbroken without her. There had to be some way to save her.

“I’ve been practicing, mother.”

“What have you been practicing?”

“Medical ninjutsu.”

Hikaru seemed surprised at this but his mother just lightly laughed at her child. He was so silly for believing that he could be a medical ninja. She assumed that he was playing pretend somewhere and that’s why they could never find him. He must have been pretending that he was a medical ninja so that he could heal his mother.

Both of Mitsuki’s parents gasped in shock as his hands were enveloped in green chakra. He didn’t even have to make hand signs, which surprised Hikaru. He lowered his hands until they were hovering above his mother’s stomach, which was the source of her pain and suffering. In a matter of minutes, Hikaru saw the color come back into Aino’s skin and her eyes seemed to light up like they used to.

Aino sat up in bed, causing Mitsuki to remove his hands. Hikaru rushed to the bed and held his wife, shaking as he thought he could’ve lost her. The two parents turned and stared at their child. He had his head tilted and that emotionless smile was on his face. 

“I told you, I’ve been practicing.”

It was after that day that they tried to follow Mitsuki’s every move. They wanted to know how he was learning medical ninjutsu but they never found out. Mitsuki was learning more and more every week Orochimaru would come visit but training would have to wait for a week because Mitsuki was going on his first visit to the Leaf.

On Mitsuki’s last day on the island, he awakened something Orochimaru wasn’t expecting. Through meditation, Mitsuki had managed to enter a pure state where he drew in the natural energy around him. Mitsuki was enveloped in blue chakra, shocking Orochimaru. The snake man took a fearful step back when black covered Mitsuki’s closed eyes and shot out like veins. A the same time, a horn sprouted from the top of his forehead.

Sensing the slight fear Orochimaru had, Mitsuki opened his eyes. Orochimaru stared in wonder at the child, even Mitsuki’s eyes were glowing. As he tried to take a step forward, the blue chakra around him formed cyans of snakes, which snapped at him as if he was a threat. Mitsuki stared at the older male and smiled. He knew he had entered sage mode and achieved a successful sage transformation.

“How did you-“

“Did you not believe I could do it?’

“… not at age five.”

It was in that moment that Orochimaru realized he really had made this child to be more powerful than him. Mitsuki was stronger than he was and he was only five years old. He would be stronger than the five kage in a matter of years. Orochimaru smiled as he dared to get closer to the child. He knelt down to the child and ruffled his hair, earning a gasp from Mitsuki. The sage transformation had disappeared as Mitsuki stared up into those yellow eyes that rivaled his own.

“I couldn’t be more proud of you, child. I’ll see you soon.”

The next morning, Mitsuki was aboard the ship that would take him away from his island for the first time. He loved the view of the endless ocean. He loved watching the waves crashing against the rocks and then dying down as the ship made its way through them. Mitsuki held onto the railing and looked out into the water, giving a soft smile as he saw dolphins from time to time jumping out.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Mitsuki?”

“Yes. Was it just like this for you when you traveled, father?”

“Yes but back when I was your age I had my best friends with me.”

“Who were they?”

Hikaru smiled down at his son before looking back out at the ocean, “You’re about to meet three of them when we arrive. I can only hope that you will be able to find friends like the ones I was able to find as a young boy. It’s a privilege to have friends like the ones I had.”

Mitsuki stared in wonder at all the sights he saw from his carriage. His parents were smiling at each other, they knew that bringing Mitsuki was a good idea. Mitsuki needed to get out and hopefully he would be able to make some friends that he could keep in touch with. Mitsuki was a rather quiet child but they believed that if he made the right friends then they could bring him out of his shell just a little bit.

As their carriages entered the village, everyone seemed to stare at them. People gathered in the streets as if Mitsuki’s carriages were a parade. Eventually the carriages had stopped and Aino grabbed his hand as she led him out. He looked at his surroundings, giving a small smile at the Hokage rock that held the faces of all the Hokages.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it, Hikaru?”

“It has. It’s good to see you again, Naruto.”

“You’ve just gotta introduce me to your family, you know?”

“Only if you do the same! I’m happy you brought them with you.”

Mitsuki had never seen his father smile that much before, even his mother was smiling. Mitsuki looked over at the Hokage, was this one of his father’s friends? Was this purple haired woman another one of his friends? These children that crowded the purple haired woman most definitely couldn’t be the friends of his father.

Hikaru wrapped an arm around his wife as he said with pride, “This is my wife, Aino. We’ve taken over for my father. He’s doing well and sends his best wishes to you and your family. And this is my son Mitsuki. He’s five years old and he’s been such a blessing to us.”

“How can he be your son if he looks nothing like them, old man?”

“Boruto! We told you to behave today and use your manners! He’s the king of the Land of the Moon!”

“He looks nothing like them, though! I don’t understand!”

Hikaru coughed, breaking Naruto and the small blonde boy known as Boruto out of their argument. They all focused their attention on the king as he explained, “Mitsuki is our adopted son. He was left outside the kingdom as a baby so we adopted him and raised him as our own. Don’t be alarmed, Mitsuki is an incredibly gifted child. He has known about this for a while now.”

While Hikaru was chatting with Naruto’s wife, Naruto couldn’t help but quickly enter sage mode to observe the child. Naruto knew that he would be too fast for anyone else to even realize he had entered sage mode but he was appalled to see Mitsuki’s eyes staring right back at him and glowing a bright yellow. Naruto’s eyes widened as Mitsuki smiled back at him, this child could see him. Naruto was going to says something when he realized Hikaru was speaking to him.

“Naruto I’d love to meet your family.”

Naruto slowly nodded before turning to his family and smiling, “This is my wife, Hinata. These are our energetic children, Boruto and Himawari. Boruto’s going to be enrolled in the academy soon with Sakura and Rock Lee’s children!”

“They have children as well? I’d love to see the two of them again.”

“Don’t worry! I arranged a lunch with them so we can all catch up!”

“That sounds amazing but shall we get to business?”

“I’d love to, Hikaru.”

As Hikaru and Naruto left to talk business, Aino and Hinata took the children to the park so they could play together. Aino smiled and hoped that Hinata wouldn’t be able to see how nervous she was for Mitsuki. He hadn’t really socialized with children his own age and the Hokage’s son didn’t seem so found of Mitsuki being adopted. She only hoped that he would at least be able to make friends with Himawari.

Once they reached the park, Boruto and Himawari raced off towards the playground while Mitsuki stayed at his mother’s side holding her hand. Hinata gave a soft smile at Mitsuki before kneeling down beside him and saying softly, “Don’t be afraid, Mitsuki. Boruto and Himawari would love to be friends with you. Go on and play with them.”

He nodded back to her but walked out towards the swings, away from Boruto and Himawari. There were other kids on the swings but once they saw Mitsuki they got scared and ran away, not that it bothered him. Mitsuki was different looking from all the other kids. None of them had skin as white as he did nor did they have light blue hair or yellow eyes. He looked different so they were scared by it.

Mitsuki sat down on the swing and slowly swung himself forward and backwards. He looked out at all the other kids, they looked like they were having fun playing with each other. Even that blonde boy who was confused by him was smiling and running around with his little sister. Hinata stared out at Mitsuki and frowned, he reminded her of Naruto when he was young. Before she could step to do anything, someone else beat her to it.

“D-Do you mind if… do you mind if I swing beside you?”

“I don’t mind at all.”

“Th-thanks… w-why are you all alone?”

“Why are you here? Do you not find my appearance intimidating?”

Mitsuki looked at the boy sitting beside him, he was wearing all green and had black hair that was cut in the shape of a bowl. He had almond shaped eyes and these ridiculous orange leg warmers and a scarf that he didn’t need to be wearing in this type of weather. But Mitsuki didn’t judge him at all. He didn’t really care what he looked like.

The other boy had a stutter to him, almost as if he was scared of everything as he spoke, “I… y-you don’t scare me… I… I just thought that… that you could use a f-friend… I don’t have many but m-maybe we could be friends?”

Mitsuki’s eyes widened, this boy wanted to be his friend? Mitsuki gave his famous emotionless smile to the other boy as he replied, “My name is Mitsuki. I don’t have any friends but I think it could be nice to have one. What’s your name?”

“I’m Metal Lee.”

Aino looked over at her son, she was unbelievably happy for him to have finally made a friend. She hadn’t seen Mitsuki give that emotionless smile that much before and despite the smile not being real, it made her happy. Mitsuki was learning how to socialize with other children his age. She knew he needed to do that on his own. She gasped when a girl with short black hair and red glasses walked over and sat on the swing on the other side of Mitsuki.

“You’re not from around here,” the girl instantly stated, “so that means you must be visiting someone right? Or have you moved out from another village to live here? I’m Sarada Uchiha, by the way. My father works for the Hokage and my mother is a doctor in the hospital here. What about you?”

“My name is Mitsuki. I am from the Land of the Moon.”

“That’s a far trip from what mama was telling me. What brings you here?”

“My father has business to do with the Hokage.”

“Then… does that mean your father is the king of the Land of the Moon?”

Mitsuki smiled and nodded back at her, earning gasps from both Sarada and Metal. The two Leaf children looked at each other, they were talking to the prince of the Land of the Moon. But Sarada and Metal realized that Mitsuki looked nothing like his brown-haired mother watching from afar. There was no way he could have been related to her.

“I’m adopted, that’s why we don’t look alike.”

Sarada and Metal’s breath hitched, how had he had known what they were thinking? Mitsuki had tilted his head and smiled back at his newfound friends. They were both kind of creeped out by his smile but he wasn’t from around here so they cut him some slack. Instead, they spent the rest of their time getting to know each other. Little did they know, Boruto was watching from afar with a jealous look in his eyes.

When it was time to go, Mitsuki said his farewells to his friends. Sarada and Metal promised to see him again after they were done meeting some person their parents told them was a dear friend. While Sarada and Metal didn’t understand who they would be meeting, Mitsuki knew that he would be seeing his friends sooner rather than later.

Mitsuki walked over to his mother and grabbed her hand, shocking Aino because he was never the one to grab her hand first. She looked down at him and smiled, giving his hand a soft squeeze. Mitsuki looked up at her and gave her a small smile. She could tell that for once, he was truly happy.

As Aino chatted with Hinata the entire way to the restaurant, Mitsuki just walked in silence staring straight ahead. He knew that Boruto’s eyes were on him but he chose to ignore him and pay him no mind. If Boruto wanted to speak to him then surely he would. If he had nothing to say at the moment then he was not worth Mitsuki’s time nor the effort to communicate to him first. Boruto was about to say something but they had arrived and he was cut off by two other voices.

“Mitsuki?!”

The blue haired child smiled back, he knew he would be having lunch with Sarada and Metal. Metal’s father looked just like him except for the fact that his sleeves were cut off at the shoulder and his eyes were more circular compared to Metal’s almond shaped eyes. Sarada’s mother looked nothing like her. She had pink hair and green eyes while Sarada had black hair with black eyes to match. Yet, Mitsuki did notice that Sarada dressed quite similar to her mother.

“Sakura… Lee… it’s been such a long time…”

“You are radiating with youth, Hikaru! It fills me with joy to see you again!”

“I’m happy to see you guys again… where is your wife, Lee?”

“Ah, we are no longer together but I have my youthful son, Metal Lee!”

Metal shakily stepped forward and bowed in respect to the king. Lee grinned and stepped aside so that Sakura could speak to their friend, “You’ve really grown up, Hikaru. I’d like to introduce you to my daughter, Sarada. My husband, Sasuke, is away serving the Hokage so I hope you understand that he could not make it to lunch.”

Hikaru nodded and smiled, he was happy to hear that she had settled down with someone. As they sat down, Naruto and his family gathered in and they all sat down to eat together. Himawari was happily chatting with the other children but Boruto was pouting beside her. I was jealous that the other kids were talking to Mitsuki.

Eventually, Mitsuki had sensed an unknown chakra coming from the bathroom of the restaurant. Mitsuki excused himself to check it out, earning a weird look from Boruto. Mitsuki walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him, smiling as he stated, “You have an incredible amount of chakra. You have my attention but what do you want with it?”

“I’m here to take you to Orochimaru.”

“What is your relationship to him?”

“I’m Suigetsu Hozuki, I work with him. He would like to see you.”

“Very well.”

Boruto had grown frustrated with Mitsuki for taking so long so he excused himself to go to the bathroom as well. Once he opened the door he gasped at the sight of a man with white hair and purple eyes wrapping an arm around Mitsuki. The older male grinned, revealing sharp teeth before disappearing with Mitsuki in a puff of smoke.

The blonde child couldn’t believe his eyes, someone had kidnapped Mitsuki! Boruto ran out of the room screaming to everyone, “Mom! Dad! Some guy just took Mitsuki! He grabbed Mitsuki and just poofed away with him! We gotta find him, you know!?”

Naruto immediately activated his sage mode, trying to locate Mitsuki’s chakra but he couldn’t sense it anymore. It was as if Mitsuki’s entire chakra had vanished. Naruto looked over at Hikaru as he asked, “Is your son a sensory type?”

“A sensory type?”

“Yes,” Naruto started, “a sensory type is a dangerous ninja. They can disguise their chakra at will, making it hard for any other sensory types or sages to detect their chakra. I can’t even sense the chakra of the person who took him… either he hid his chakra or the person with him hid their chakras so I can’t find them.”

“But Mitsuki’s not a ninja, he doesn’t know how to do any of that.”

“He knows medical ninjutsu, doesn’t he?”

“Of course but-“

“Someone had to have taught him that then.”

Sakura butted into the conversation to shed some light on what Naruto was talking about, “I’m a medical ninja here but I was taught medical ninjutsu by Lady Tsunade. She’s known for her skills in medical ninjutsu, which is her ability to heal any person of almost any injury. It’s not something you just inherit. It needs to be taught. Who taught Mitsuki medical ninjutsu?”

Hikaru and Aino looked back at each other, which told everyone that they didn’t know who Mitsuki had learned it from. Lee decided to step in so he could add, “If someone had gone through the trouble to willingly teach Mitsuki medical ninjutsu then we can also assume that this person could have taught Mitsuki ninjutsu as well.”

All the Leaf parents nodded, Lee very much may be true with that statement. Mitsuki may have been trained to be a ninja without his parents being aware of it. Naruto looked at Mitsuki’s parents before clarifying, “And you said that Mitsuki was just dropped at your doorstep one night?”

Hikaru and Aino nodded back at the Hokage. Naruto put a finger to his lips as he was thinking. He could see Hinata was scanning the area with her byakugan just to be sure that she couldn’t detect Mitsuki’s chakra. She looked over at her husband and shook her head. Mitsuki’s chakra was definitely being hidden from them. Either he didn’t want to be found or someone didn’t want them finding him.

“I have an idea of where he could be. Follow me.”

Mitsuki smiled at his surroundings as he walked down the halls with Suigetsu. Mitsuki looked up at the other male and stated, “You must be from the Village Hidden in the Mist. I have read in books that it is common for their people to have sharp teeth similar to that of a shark. You must be familiar with kenjustu as well, I assume. It was quite well known in the Mist to be familiar with a sword.”

“You’re smart for a brat.”

“I can assure you I’m mature for my age.”

“No doubt that you’re Orochimaru’s kid.”

“You speak of Orochimaru but where is he?’

Before Suigetsu could say anything, Orochimaru appeared from an open door and smiled at the child. Mitsuki gave a smile back as he said, “It is nice to actually see you in person. I am well aware that you have been sending clones to me for the part few years. I am pleased to officially meet you, Orochimaru.”

Orochimaru stepped forward and pat the child’s head before replying, “Indeed you are intelligent, Mitsuki. It fills me with such pride to see who you have become today. You’re far more successful that I would have thought you would be. Come, child, let us get you acquainted with the people who helped me create you.”

The child nodded and followed Orochimaru down a hallway with Suigetsu sluggishly walking behind the two of them. Once they entered a large room, Mitsuki noticed there were two people standing in front of a giant statue of a snake. One of them was a male with orange hair and red eyes with the other was a female with red hair with part of it shaved on the side. Mitsuki noticed she had red glasses similar to Sarada.

Orochimaru smiled as he introduced them to Mitsuki, “You are already familiar with Suigetsu behind you. Before you are Jugo and Karin. Together, these three formed Team Taka with Sasuke Uchiha and aided him and the allied forces during the fourth great ninja war. Each of them helped to create you, child.”

“How so?”

Jugo and Karin walked forward until they were standing before Mitsuki. Jugo spoke softly, “I have a rare kekkei genkai that allows me to make use of natural energy around me without any training in senjustu… yet, this constant intake of energy causes me to go on rampages without warning. You possess my kekkei genkai but we altered it so that you wouldn’t be overloaded by the energy intake.”

Mitsuki nodded with a smile and turned to face Karin. She fixed her glasses as she spoke, “I’m a highly skilled sensory type and medical ninja. I was the one who taught you medical ninjutsu through a substitution justu to make myself look like Orochimaru.”

The white haired male stepped from behind Mitsuki as he explained, “I’m the one who trained you in kenjustu and in wind style attacks and defenses. My goal in the Mist was to become a member of the Swordsmen of the Mist but I abandoned that dream and chose to carry around one of the swords instead. I have wind and water chakra natures but you possess wind and lightning chakra natures so under a substitution justu I trained you to be lethal with your wind style.”

“So these are all the people who helped to create me?”

“There is but one more person I wish for you to meet.”

“Who is that?”

“Your older brother.”

Mitsuki’s calm demeanor was broken in a moment. He had an older brother? Mitsuki snapped his head to look at Orochimaru. The older male chuckled slightly before explaining himself, “Before you, I created a child that looks exactly like you. I kept him here with me to raise him as my own…”

Orochimaru looked away, regret was present in his voice as he continued, “I kept him here for us to raise but I see now that I was wrong for doing so. By keeping him here, he lacked the ability to socialize with anyone who wasn’t us. It’s taken time but Log is getting better at communicating with the people outside but he chooses to remain here. That is why I could not raise you here. I didn’t want to alter your being. I wanted to see who you could become if you were raised in a better environment.”

“He still came out the same as I did, Orochimaru.”

Everyone gasped and turned to find the person the unknown voice belonged to. Mitsuki slowly turned to see a person who looked like an older version of himself. This older version of himself had a cigarette in his mouth and a scar running diagonally across the right side of his face. The scar helped to make him look older.

“Mitsuki this is-“

“My name is Log.”

Mitsuki held no emotion on his face as he padded towards the other male. Mitsuki stood a mere foot away from Log. He watched as Log breathed in and blew out smoke. Mitsuki had decided that he didn’t mind the smell of the smoke but refused to partake in this sort of a habit. Log bit down on his cigarette out of shock when he felt Mitsuki hug his legs.

Log seemed to be frozen as he felt Mitsuki squeeze his legs. He remained still but heard Mitsuki whisper to him, “I am thankful for you. I know that you may not be willing to accept me as your kin but I accept you. I always knew there was a missing part of me… I see now that the missing part of me was you.”

“You make my heart whole.”

“I… don’t understand… I do that for you?”

“You are my whole heart, Log.”

“Mitsuki…”

Log knelt down to the ground and embraced the child before him. Log held onto him tight, savoring the feeling of the little arms gripping him just as hard. There was an unknown feeling in Log’s heart now. He was sure that this feeling was love and he had been deprived of it for so long that it felt so foreign. Mitsuki had managed to give him love in a matter of minutes and without even knowing him. Mitsuki was something special.

The four adults in the room smiled at the sight. Orochimaru knew that Mitsuki was going to be the one to complete Log. Mitsuki would not have been able to fill the void in Log if he had been raised here as well. Mitsuki needed a different upbringing with morally good people. Mitsuki was sure to have a different future than Log but Orochimaru was happy to see that they would have each other in their lives now.

Mitsuki and Log pulled away from each other and stared into each other’s eyes. Light golden yellow eyes stared back into each other, smiling as they had found what they needed in their lives. Suddenly, Mitsuki and Karin paused. Log’s face turned from one of happiness to one of concern for his little brother. Log grabbed Mitsuki’s shoulders, trying to get some sort of reaction out of him.

“They’re coming for me… they’re close, Orochimaru.”

“If they find you here I won’t be able to see you again.”

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

“I’ll tell you about it another time, child… we must get you out of here.”

Log picked up Mitsuki, wrapping his arms around the child protectively as they raced off into the hallways following the other adults. Mitsuki gripped Log’s shirt tight as if to tell the other that he was scared. Mitsuki was alarmed that he had done that. He never would have let someone know that he was feeling vulnerable before. Log really was his whole heart.

The older male spit out his cigarette as he ran, failing to see that Mitsuki had reached back to catch it. Mitsuki held onto the cigarette, allowing it’s warmth to burn his skin as he clutched it in his fist. He had to have some way to remember his older brother. Mitsuki felt tears prick at his eyes, would he ever see Log again? 

Log felt his shirt growing wet and he immediately stopped fearing that Mitsuki had somehow been injured in their run to the exit. Log placed Mitsuki on the floor, checking the boy over for any sources of bleeding. The adults had stopped and were about to say something to get them moving when they realized that Mitsuki was crying. Orochimaru was intrigued, Log had given Mitsuki the ability to cry.

Mitsuki didn’t understand how water was pouring from his eyes but what he did know was that he needed to see Log again. As much as Log wanted to wipe those tears away, he knew the people of the Leaf were coming so they had to keep moving. Log looked up at the others and nodded, telling them to keep going. Log picked up Mitsuki and continued to chase after the adults to their destination.

The older male smiled softly as he said to his little brother, “Come now, Mitsuki… why are you crying? Don’t you know that I won’t let anything happen to you when I’m around? I’m always going to protect you. No matter where you are or what you do or who you become… just know this…”

“I will love you always.”

Mitsuki pulled away from Log’s shoulder when he heard those words. He looked up at his older brother. Log wore a smile on his face as he looked ahead. Mitsuki gripped the cigarette in his hand, he knew he would see his brother again. Mitsuki nodded back, allowing a feeling of comfort to wash over him. This would not be their last encounter.

When they made it to the exit, Log placed his little brother on the ground and then reluctantly backed away from him so Orochimaru could explain the plan, “Now go, child. We will be sending an experiment after you to act as though it was chasing you in this direction. It will be an altered version of Suigetsu so that it meets the description if anyone had claimed to have seen you with him.”

“When will I see you all again?”

“I cannot say but take this snake. Whenever you want to talk use it.”

A small white snake slithered from Orochimaru’s sleeve and made its way over to Mitsuki. It hissed its tongue out at him in a non-threatening way before curling up his leg and into his back pouch that he carried with him. Mitsuki felt tears sting at his eyes again when he looked back at the people who had created him. They all left an imprint on his heart. Log gave a sad smile to his little brother.

“I’ll always be with you, Mitsuki.”

“And I am with you, Log. You are my whole heart.”

“And you are mine… now, go… I’ll see you again.”

Mitsuki nodded and ran outside the hideout. When he looked back he saw a rock slowly closing to hide the base. Mitsuki stood and watched as the four adults started to walk away but Log remained there watching him. Mitsuki could’ve sworn he saw a tear making its way down Log’s face but the rock closed too fast and before he knew it his brother was gone.

When the base opened again, a large disformed version of Suigetsu came out and roared at the child. Mitsuki wasn’t afraid but he knew that he had to run away to draw the people of the Leaf away from Orochimaru’s hideout. Mitsuki took off in a run but this creature was fast. It used a water style attack that forced Mitsuki to turn and slice through the water using his wind beast palm technique.

During this attack, Mitsuki had unknowingly allowed his chakra to resurface for the Leaf people to find him. Mitsuki was forced out into a clearing in the forest by the creature, gritting his teeth as it roared again. Mitsuki sensed many chakras coming his way. He would need to end this now before they got to him.

The creature ran at him, slashing and shooting water bullets at him but Mitsuki dodged them all without a problem. Eventually, Mitsuki managed to slide through the creature’s legs when it was catching its breath after an attack. It was at the moment that Mitsuki jumped up and snapped the creature’s neck that everyone from the Leaf had arrived, gasping at the sight before them.

Everyone watched as the creature dropped dead with Mitsuki gracefully landing on the top of it. As Mitsuki stepped off the creature to start walking towards his family and friends, he heard beeping coming from the creature. Naruto’s eyes widened as he saw in sage mode that the creature was a bomb and it had detonated itself.

Mitsuki’s eyes beamed a bright yellow, he was able to see that the creature was a bomb as well with his sage mode. Naruto instantly wrapped his nine tailed chakra around everyone to protect them from the explosion but Mitsuki was so close to it that Naruto wouldn’t be able to save him in time. Mitsuki was going to die. Mitsuki heard everyone scream for him but just before the creature was going to explode Mitsuki made quick hand signs.

“Typhoon style: bursting winds!”

Everyone watched as Mitsuki sucked in air and a powerful burst of wind shot out of his mouth and swarmed around the creature like a tornado. The creature was lifted high into the air so that it could explode without causing any damage to the people here. The creature’s ashes started to float down from the sky but Mitsuki blew it all away with another justu, “Wind style: immense breakthrough!”

As soon as Naruto released his nine tails chakra, Hikaru and Aino were running out there to their son to make sure he was okay. They dropped to their knees and hugged their son, feeling him over for any injuries. Before they could say anything, Naruto had walked over and asked in awe, “How… how did you do all of that?”

“Did I surprise you?”

“That typhoon style is a rare kekkei genkai…”

“Then I did surprise you.”

“Yes… you seem to be full of surprises, Mitsuki.”

Before Naruto could say anything else, Boruto had run out and tackled Mitsuki to the ground in a hug. Mitsuki was not prepared for the hug and found himself on his back with a blonde nearly squeezing the oxygen out of him. He looked up at the blonde and questioned, “What are you doing? I was under the impression that you weren’t very fond of me.”

Boruto got up and helped Mitsuki back onto his feet. The blonde crossed his arms and tried to act as though he wasn’t concerned as he stated, “You’re weird but my dad once said that my mom was weird so that must mean you’re good. It’s not like I was worried or anything, I knew you could handle yourself against that monster.”

“I see then… so you do like me.”

Boruto instantly started blushing and tried to claim that he didn’t like Mitsuki, which caused all the adults to start laughing. Hikaru looked at his smiling son, Mitsuki was different and he was hiding things from them but they couldn’t deny that seeing Mitsuki smile this much felt good. The people in the Leaf brought out this side in Mitsuki and they only wished that they could stay longer.

Mitsuki spent the rest of the days in the Leaf playing with Sarada, Metal, Boruto, and Himawari. But all good things come to an end eventually and this was no exception. On the day that Mitsuki had to travel back to the Land of the Moon, he bid his farewells to his friends. While Metal and Himawari cried, Sarada and Boruto hugged him and promised to see him again.

Naruto, Lee, Sakura and Hikaru watched as Mitsuki, Metal, Boruto and Sarada all linked pinkies as a promise to always be best friends, just as their parents once promised. Mitsuki smiled at these people, so this was what it felt like to have friends. Mitsuki had decided that he liked having friends and he truly hoped he would meet them again one day. It would be years later that they would be reunited. 

“Mitsuki, I need you to do something for me… it’s extremely important.”

“How can I be of assistance, father?”

“I need you to go to the Hidden Waterfall Village. They would like to be our ally and trade.”

“I understand. I shall take my departure immediately.”

Before Mitsuki was about to leave, Hikaru grabbed his son’s shoulder to make him look at him as he stated, “It’s going to be dangerous and I wouldn’t have asked you unless it was absolutely necessary. I would have sent your mother but I need her here to help me with the kingdom. I know you understand the dangers you may face but I have asked for assistance from our allies to guard you.”

Mitsuki nodded back at his father. He understood that his father wanted nothing more than to protect him and to guarantee the friendship between the Land of the Moon and the Hidden Waterfall. Mitsuki knew he was safe on his island. No one who had tried to come for him had even successfully made it to the island. Mitsuki was leaving the safety of his island but he knew he was ready for the dangers ahead. He just hoped that his guards would be ready.

At the age of sixteen, Boruto and his friends would be promoted to the chunin level status. This was the time where everything would change for the better, Boruto assumed. He believed that now he would be able to go on solo missions and really prove to his father that not only was he just as good but even better than him. This was Boruto’s time to shine.

“Your mission will be with your old Team Seven. You will be guarding a prince on his journey.”

Boruto’s face deadpanned, his father couldn’t be serious. After all this time and all these missions he had been through his father wanted him to keep doing it with his team. Granted, his team consisted of Sarada and Konohamaru as his sensei and they weren’t bad in his eyes but still, he wanted to do things his way. He most certainly didn’t want to be guarding a prince.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his son before continuing to read off the mission, “You will have Metal join your team as more help is needed to protect the prince. The prince is to be making the journey to the Hidden Waterfall for a peace treaty and to promote trade while the king is busy. Their king has reached out to our village to help. It is our duty as an ally to assist them in this. Let me make this clear, you will face problems on this mission. It is not as easy as it sounds.”

“What’s so hard about delivering a spoiled prince to the Hidden Waterfall?”

“This prince has been hunted down. If word gets out that he’s off his island-“

“What? People are going to hold him for ransom?”

“Kidnap him and sell him.”

Boruto gulped at his father’s answer. Sarada punched Boruto’s arm before crossing her arms and stating, “Do you get it now, Boruto? We’re in charge of someone’s life. It’s not just a mission to escort them to the village! We have to be cautious the entire time because there’s a target on this prince’s back no matter where he is and if there’s a target on his back then there’s going to be one on ours.”

“We’re ready to begin the mission, Lord Seventh.”

“Good. He’s just arrived so please go get acquainted.”

Naruto smiled as he watched them all leave. He made sure he kept it a secret who they were going to be guarding. He turned in his chair to watch Team Seven meet up with Metal and take off to the entrance of the Leaf to meet the person they would be protecting. Naruto only hoped that the mission wouldn’t be too much for Konohamaru and his team.

Once Boruto and his teammates arrived at the entrance of the Leaf, they noticed three big carriages that looked like they were ready to leave. Each carriage was designed differently with various shades of blue to confuse people on which carriage actually contained the prince. Konohamaru walked over to one of the assistants and began talking to them to gather information and to inform them of what was to occur.

Boruto looked around before casually trying to walk over to a carriage and peek into it when he yelped in surprise when Sarada grabbed his ear and hissed, “What do you think you’re doing peeping around the prince’s carriages? We don’t even know if we’re allowed to speak to the prince yet!”

The blonde knocked her hand off and casually folded his arms behind his head as he groaned, “What’s wrong with just trying to get a peek of who this prince is? I bet they’re some stuck up, privileged brat who got forced to do his father’s work for him. I’d at least like to know who we’re guarding on this stupid mission. I mean, I am protecting them and walking the entire trip. You know how many days that is, Sarada?”

“Clearly too many for you.”

Boruto glared at Sarada and then he rolled his eyes as a smug smirk etched itself on her face. Before he could say anything back to her, Konohamaru walked over to inform them of their duty, “The prince is located in the last carriage but he moves from carriage to carriage on stops to ensure that no outsider knows where he is. We’ve been told to only engage the prince during breaks to be sure that we cannot be seen associating with them to give people the idea of where he is.”

“It’s that serious, big bro Konohamaru?”

“I’m afraid it is. I don’t think you understand how serious this mission is, Boruto.”

Again, someone was telling him he didn’t know how serious this mission was but Boruto didn’t feel like it was that serious. He highly doubted that anyone would really go out of their way just to kidnap a prince from some random land. Boruto rolled his eyes, this prince probably wasn’t well known because if he was then Boruto would have heard about him. Boruto didn’t even know this prince’s name!

Sarada and Konohamaru would be near the front of the carriages while Boruto and Metal would be by the last one. Boruto saw this as his opportunity to try to snag a glance at the prince. As they embarked on their journey, Boruto noticed that the sun would at times show the silhouette of someone in the carriage. Boruto squinted and was able to see someone slowly fanning themselves. Looks like a spoiled brat to me, he thought with a huff.

They had been walking for hours when Konohamaru declared that it was a good place to stop and rest and to allow the horses pulling the carriages to get a drink. While one of the assistants to the prince walked over to the carriage to help him out, Boruto put on his best innocent smile and told them that they needed rest and that he would be able to help the prince out of the carriage.

In reality, Boruto just wanted a better look at the person he was guarding. The door opened and Boruto was met with a yellow umbrella opening. He took a few steps back in surprise and then looked at the prince to find a light blue fan in front of his face, only revealing the most gorgeous, golden yellow eyes that he had ever seen. Those eyes widened at the sight of Boruto and then returned back to their normal size.

Boruto was starstruck by the prince and it appeared that the prince was as well. Boruto noticed that the prince wore a blue and white kimono with black pants underneath as well as a black long sleeve under the kimono that reached all the way to his hands. The prince had light blue hair and the fairest skin Boruto had ever seen. The prince was absolutely stunning and Boruto just wanted to see more and to hear his voice. Just as Boruto was about to say something, an assistant interrupted him.

“Your majesty, we have some refreshments for you. Please do drink some water.”

The prince gave a slight bow to Boruto before walking over to the assistants for a drink of water. Sarada grinned at Boruto as she whispered into his ear, “It looks like you’ve got it bad for that… what did you call him? A privileged, spoiled brat?”

Metal walked over to the two of them and giggled alongside Sarada, even he could tell that Boruto had just fallen for the prince. They didn’t even know each other’s names and they both were captivated by the other. Boruto couldn’t see it, but the prince was sneaking glances at him. Boruto was less than discreet and full on stared the prince down.

“Why don’t you just talk to him?”

“Why don’t you go talk to him, Metal, if it’s so easy!”

The green clad ninja instantly got nervous just thinking about walking over and talking to someone of royalty. Metal instantly became a stuttering mess, causing Boruto to feel bad and apologize to the other male. He had only snapped at Metal because he was nervous. He wanted to talk to the prince but he didn’t want to look stupid in front of someone who had the potential to rule an entire kingdom. Boruto was just a ninja. He didn’t have the same status.

Before they knew it, they had to be on their way again. Boruto was moved to the front with Metal to guard the prince, who was now moved to the first carriage. The entire time they walked to their next checkpoint Boruto would try not to look into the carriage but he couldn’t help himself! He just had to get one glance at what the prince looked like behind that fan.

He didn’t want to risk the mission by continuing to try to look into the prince’s carriage but he desperately wanted one more look at that blue haired beauty. By the time they were able to stop again it was growing dark. Boruto raced around the carriage to help the prince out, reaching his hand out for the prince to take to assist him in getting down the stairs of the carriage. Boruto was relieved to not be greeted with a yellow umbrella again.

The prince’s eyes widened again but he graciously took Boruto’s hand. A feeling like electricity sparked between them in the moment their hands touched. It felt as though the world was moving in slow motion as yellow eyes looked into blue ones. They both blinked and it seemed like they were back in reality. Boruto blinked a few more times as if he was trying to adjust to everything around him before sheepishly grinning.

“I guess I should help you down now, you know?”

A light pink blush could be seen on the prince’s face when the fan was being used, allowing Boruto few peeks, which he was grateful for. The prince bowed to Boruto again in thanks before walking towards his assistants to be guided to his sleeping quarters for the night. Boruto stared off at the prince until he was out of sight. Metal and Sarada shook their heads with smiles on their faces, Boruto had fallen hard.

Konohamaru had the first watch for the night, which allowed Boruto some time to sneak off to try to talk to the prince. When he found the prince’s sleeping quarters, he noticed that there was an assistant sitting outside of it. Boruto wandered over and was about to say something when the female stated, “I apologize but I cannot allow you to enter the prince’s quarters.”

“What? Why not?! I’m protecting him, you know!”

“My apologies but this is his time for meditation. He prefers to be left alone.”

“Meditation? What do you mean?”

“Come with me and I’ll tell you about it.”

Boruto was about to ask if the prince would be okay by himself but the assistant cut him off, “Don’t worry, the prince is a sensory type. He’ll be safe on his own for a few minutes. If he detects anyone then he’ll escape before anyone even knows he’s not there anymore. I’m Daiki, by the way. I’ve served the prince and his family for years.”

Daiki grabbed Boruto and took him near the river they had camped out by. The two of them sat down and as soon as they were comfortable, Boruto asked, “So what did you mean when you said he meditates? Is he some sort of weird monk?”

“He meditates to practice precise chakra control.”

The female smiled at Boruto’s confusion and explained, “Our prince is extremely gifted. It has been said amongst our kingdom that the prince was just dropped to us and given sanctuary by the royal family. He is incredibly intelligent in all aspects. He used to sneak away from the guards and to this day no one knows where he goes when he escapes from them.”

Intelligent in all aspects? The way this girl was talking made it seem like the prince was some sort of ninja, but there was no way! When had someone of royalty ever wanted to train in the art of ninjutsu? It was just unheard of. Boruto shrugged and pushed away the thought that the prince was some sort of secret ninja.

“So you’ve been working for him for a while, do you like him?”

“The prince doesn’t speak much but when he does he’s quite… odd.”

“Well, what do you mean?”

“The prince is nice but he has strange mannerisms. All in all, he means well.”

Sensing that Boruto was not satisfied with her answer, Daiki continued with a small smile, “The prince doesn’t have many friends nor does he get off the island enough. I have heard the king and queen talking about how he struggles to connect with people. Yet, I haven’t heard anything bad about the prince during my time serving the royal family.”

Boruto seemed to settle for her answer but Daiki gave a sly smirk as she asked the blonde, “What is it that you’re trying to do here? You’ve been asking a lot of questions about the prince and from what I’ve seen from your little moments together I have this feeling you’ve got a crush on the prince! So fess up! Do you like the prince?”

The blonde instantly turned red but quickly tried to deny that he had any sort of feelings for the prince and that he was just doing his job. Daiki started laughing at his reaction, he had just confirmed to her that he held feelings for the prince. As unreadable as the prince may be, Daiki believed that Boruto stirred some sort of feelings within the prince as well.

“Whatever you do, Boruto, just be good to him.”

All night Boruto couldn’t shake off the conversation that he had with Daiki. She tried her best to tell him about the prince. Boruto felt as if he knew everything and nothing at the same time and nothing was more frustrating than that. Boruto wanted nothing more than to just speak with the prince. Boruto spent his free time before his lookout time to think about the prince.

When it was time to leave in the morning, Boruto was running around trying to find the prince to help him into the carriage. When Boruto located the prince, he found him standing oddly still under a tree. Boruto walked over to him and reached out his hand for the prince to take. The prince blinked and stared at Boruto, shaking his head behind the fan he held.

Boruto was taken back, why didn’t the prince want any help? Something didn’t feel right. Boruto watched as the prince walked out towards the middle carriage, his umbrella beaming under the harsh sunlight. Just as the prince put his foot on the step of the carriage, it exploded. Everyone screamed as the impact of the blast shot them back a few feet.

Everyone was up in an instant and stared at the burning carriage. The assistants to the prince were screaming and crying on one another, the prince was just blown up. They had failed their kingdom and the prince was killed because of their ignorance. Everyone tensed up when they saw five men land in front of the prince’s burning carriage. 

Each of them had lines crossed through their headbands to indicate that they were rogue ninjas from various villages. The leader of the gang slapped one of the other ninjas and snarled, “You idiot! You were supposed to detonate that earlier so that he would be knocked out! You killed the prince!”

“I would advise you to not think so little of me.”

Everyone turned to the unknown voice to find the prince fanning himself under a tree while his other hand held his yellow umbrella in place. His eyes held a fierce look as he stared at the enemies. Everyone just stared blankly at the prince. Didn’t they all just watch him get blown up?

“Get him!”

The five ninja took off in a run at the prince, causing Boruto to run to stand in front of the prince to defend him. While Konohamaru took on two of the ninja, each of the younger members of the squad took on one ninja of their own. The leader of the ninja tried to land a blow on the prince but Boruto picked him up bridal style and jumped away with him.

The leader growled as he jumped off after Boruto and the prince. Boruto had to get the prince out of here, eventually one of his teammates would come and take care of the guy chasing after them. But, of course, nothing ever goes as plan for Boruto. The leader threw out a paper bomb right in front of Boruto, causing the blonde to try to move away but he was sent flying to the ground with the prince.

“Now, hand over the prince and we might let you live.”

“You’ll never touch him! I’ll never let any of you bastards have him, that’s a promise!”

Boruto stood protectively in front of the prince, who stood behind the blonde fanning himself slowly as if nothing bothered him. Boruto made hand signs and ran at the other man with four of his shadow clones. The man took out a sword from the holster on the side of his body and made quick work slicing through each of them except the real Boruto.

It seemed as if cheap tricks like shadow clones wouldn’t work on this guy. Boruto grit his teeth as the other male ran at him, slashing at him but Boruto was able to evade each attack. Attack after attack, Boruto formulated a plan. He jumped back from the ninja and made the same hand signs again, allowing four clones to appear.

Two of the clones ran forward to keep the man busy while the other two clones worked together to make the wind style: gale palm. The real Boruto jumped up and the clones used the gale palm to spend Boruto flying at the other man. Just as the two clones were defeated, Boruto shot through and caught the man by surprise. Boruto attacked him with a gentle fist style palm strike.

“Boruto stream!”

The leader was shot back into a tree, causing some of the branches to actually fall apart from sheer power from the attack. Boruto stood up and puffed out his chest, he had done it all by himself. He looked back at the prince and grinned, “He was a piece of cake!”

Boruto didn’t understand why the prince’s eyes grew fearful but Boruto soon understood when he felt someone kick him against a tree. He tried to get up but a chain wrapped around the tree and held him there against his will. Boruto looked up and saw the leader smirking down at him. How could this happen? He had just sent him flying into a tree!

The blonde looked over and saw that the leader had used a shadow clone. Did this mean that he had been fighting a clone all this time? Boruto’s eyes widened, it was when he detonated the paper bomb that he had sent in a clone to test out Boruto’s skills. He caught the blonde by surprise and now he was struggling to get free. Without Boruto, the prince would be defenseless against this man. Boruto grit his teeth, damn it!

The man started skulking over to the prince with a disgusting grin on his face, “Let’s just make this easy on the both of us, prince. Just come with me and I’ll make sure that this brat over here escapes with his life. There’s no one who can help you now.”

“I told you not to think so little of me.”

The leader was about to laugh at the prince but found himself getting kicked into a tree. Boruto and the other man stared in shock, had the prince really kicked him that hard that he snapped the tree in half? The prince continued to stand there slowly fanning himself and protecting himself from the sun with his umbrella. There had to be some sort of a trick.

Boruto watched as the man took his sword out and ran at the prince, trying to slash at him so that he wouldn’t be able to move. The prince easily evaded each attack and could tell that the man was only trying to cause a mild injury. The man knew that no one would want a dead prince but this person was really making his job harder than it needed to be.

The man grew tired of missing his target every time that he decided to risk it all at tried to stab the prince in the head. There was the sound of paper being ripped into and Boruto closed his eyes, waiting for the sound of flesh being stabbed to echo through the forest… but it never came.

Boruto opened his eyes and gasped in shock when he saw that the sword had stabbed through the prince’s fan but the prince was holding the sword in place with his fan. The leader stared into the prince’s yellow eyes and that’s when he realized this wasn’t just some ordinary prince. This male was a trained ninja as well.

Boruto watched in horror as the prince used his free hand to unhinge the umbrella and use the pointed end of it as a weapon. The prince kicked the other male’s hand away from him and then stabbed the ninja with the umbrella, causing him to let go of the sword and drop to his knees. The prince tossed his old fan to the ground with the sword and then pulled out another light blue fan from inside his kimono.

The prince unsheathed his umbrella from the ninja, earning a groan of pain as the other male sunk lower to the ground. The prince shook the blood off of his umbrella before he popped it back open so that he could he protected from the sun once more. Boruto thought it was over, but the prince was clearly not done with the enemy.

The prince used his heel as he kicked the back of the man’s head into the ground, causing the man’s face to bleed. The blue haired male glared down at the man as he hissed his last words, “You’ll never make it there alive… everyone knows you’re here… I wasn’t strong enough but someone else will get you… I’ll see you in hell!”

And just like that, the man collapsed and died in a pool of his own blood. The prince walked over to Boruto and stared at the chains. He walked around to the back of the chains and slashed through them, however Boruto wasn’t able to see how the prince had done it. Boruto watched as the prince walked around the tree and seemed to smile back at him from behind his fan. He was about to say something but was cut off when his team arrived.

“Boruto, we found you! You took out the big guy yourself?”

Before Boruto could say anything, the assistants came running out of the bushes and started fretting over the prince. Daiki could be seen among them asking if the prince was okay. It appeared that she had no idea that the prince was the one to defeat the ninja. No one at all suspected that the prince was capable of killing someone. Boruto needed to get to the bottom of this.

It wasn’t until that afternoon that Boruto would have that opportunity. As they rested, Boruto took the time to guide the prince towards a river claiming to be escorting the prince to get a drink. When they made it to the river, Boruto watched as the prince sat down in front of the moving water and stared down into it.

“You have me alone but what do you hope to gain from this?”

“So you do talk, huh?”

“Were you expecting me not to be able to?”

“No! I mean… it’s just that you haven’t said anything until today.”

Boruto walked over to the prince so that he was standing in front of him with his hands on his hips. The prince seemed amused as the blonde stated, “You’ve got everyone else fooled that you’re just some regular old prince but I saw you! You’re not going to have me fooled here! I can see right through you!”

“That’s so like you to say.”

The blonde was taken back by the slight hum of laughter the prince let out after he spoke. Why was the prince talking like he knew Boruto? Daiki was right when she said that the prince was odd. He didn’t speak like everyone else. He was different but it sort of drew Boruto in. He just wanted to know more about this person.

Boruto stepped out onto some rocks that were surfacing in the river. Boruto jumped from rock to rock and then turned around, noticing how Mitsuki had stood up and he was now watching the blonde jump around. Boruto jumped over to the prince and held out his hand for the prince to take. The prince smiled and stabbed his umbrella into the ground so he would be able to take the blonde’s hand.

“Hold onto me, okay?”

The prince nodded and blushed as Boruto wrapped his arms around the blue haired male’s slender waist. The prince hesitantly wrapped his free arm around his guard’s neck. Boruto grinned as he jumped from rock to rock with the prince held close to him. At one point when they jumped, Boruto lifted the prince into his arms so that he was holding him bridal style.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion for them. There were moments where water would splash up with them, making their movements even more graceful. The entire time the prince was staring right at Boruto with a light pink blush dusting across his face. When they landed in the middle of the river, Boruto finally looked down and he just gasped in awe at the beauty of the prince.

The prince’s light blue hair seemed to just flow in the wind, despite it looking somewhat short. His golden yellow eyes shined so bright in the sun and from time to time, Boruto could’ve sworn that they would sparkle. Boruto grew bold and dared to reach a hand to touch the pale boy’s cheek. Their eyes widened as Boruto’s hand grew closer but just as he was about to make contact, Boruto slipped and they fell into the river.

In an instant Boruto shot up and looked around for the prince. The blue haired male was sitting in the river along with Boruto but somehow his fan managed to survive the water and it was there in front of his face like it always was. Boruto looked at the sight of the prince soaked in the water and then he looked down at himself and he erupted into laughter. The prince tilted his head in confusion.

“I don’t understand. What do you find humorous right now?”

“We look like wet dogs, you know?”

“It seems you haven’t changed a bit, Boruto.”

Boruto stared at the prince, how did he know his name. He didn’t remember even having a moment to really introduce himself. How did he know who he was? Boruto crawled over to the prince and stared at him. Did he know this person from somewhere?

“Have you already forgotten about me?”

The blonde watched as the prince sat up in the river and smiled behind the fan. Boruto’s eyes widened when he saw the prince remove the fan from in front of his face. He was absolutely stunning when Boruto was finally able to see his entire face. He looked so familiar and that’s when it all came back to him, “There’s just no way… Mitsuki?”

Before either of them could say anything else, everyone had heard the commotion of them falling in the water and then Boruto’s loud laughter. Everyone rushed to the sight but Sarada and Metal seemed to pause at the sight of the prince without his fan in front of him. Sarada seemed to adjust her glasses as if she didn’t believe that Mitsuki was right there before them. Metal even rubbed his eyes to make sure that this wasn’t some dream.

The assistants quickly rushed towards the prince, helping him out of the water so that he could change into dry attire. As Mitsuki was taken away, he made sure that he smiled at the people who were his childhood friends.

Sarada and Metal ran to their friend and helped him out of the river. Sarada was instantly asking questions, “If that was really Mitsuki then why didn’t he reveal himself to us sooner? We were his childhood friends, why would he hide himself from us? And how exactly did you get him to reveal himself to you?”

“I… I was always drawn to him… even as a little kid.”

“I guess some things don’t change then.”

“We’ve missed out on so much of each other’s lives, Sarada.”

“I doubt we’d have any time to really catch up now.”

Boruto seemed to pout in his wet clothes, crossing his arms as he said sadly, “No, I don’t think we do. We had all the time in the world to reach out to him but we didn’t. I think his mom said that we were his first friends when we were little… we never spoke to him for years… I’m surprised he doesn’t hate us.”

Metal gulped at the thought of their childhood friend hating them. He grew nervous but managed to find his words, “But… but it seemed that he wasn’t mad at us… did you not see how he smiled at all of us? I am sure that he would have revealed himself to us if he was allowed to. He might not have been able to speak to us.”

“But why break his silence now? And with Boruto?”

The two boys stared at Sarada, she seemed as if she was deep in thought. Sarada looked at the two boys as she stated, “I know you said you were drawn to him, Boruto, but I think that Mitsuki might be drawn to you as well. You were the one who he revealed himself to. You must mean something to him for him to do that.”

Those words seemed to replay in Boruto’s mind over and over for the rest of the day. When it was the evening and they were resting for the night, each of them felt someone’s hand on their shoulder. They each looked over and saw a hand on them but the arm the hand was attached to seemed to just extend on forever into the forest. Before they could scream to alert Konohamaru, another hand was placed over their mouths and they were yanked off into the forest.

They fought against the hands but they held onto each of the them tight. Just when they were all about to pull out kunais to stab the arms, the three of them were released and they stumbled to the ground. They each looked up to see four of Mitsuki staring back at him. Three of the Mitsuki seemed to dissolve into a pile of white snakes, each of them slithering off into the forest.

“You could’ve just asked us to meet out here, you know.”

“I suppose I could have.”

When the three of them got to their feet they saw that Mitsuki didn’t have his fan with him this time. He was out in the open and everyone noted that his skin seemed to glow in the moonlight. Boruto thought that he looked absolutely beautiful but shook his head at the thought. He needed to be serious. Mitsuki clearly wanted to talk to them. Mitsuki tilted his head and smiled at them.

“So, I assume you all wanted to speak with me.”

All three of them deadpanned. Mitsuki had went out of his way to make snake clones of himself to each kidnap them and bring them to this location in the forest… but despite all of that effort he did it because they might want to talk to him. Boruto let out a groan, Mitsuki really was weird.

Sarada fixed her glasses and walked closer to Mitsuki, asking softly, “We didn’t know that we would be guarding you on this mission… why didn’t you let us know that you were the prince? This whole time we had no idea it was you.”

“I would have told you,” Mitsuki gave that same emotionless smile, “but I also had no inkling that you would be the ones who would be protecting me on my journey. I was just as surprised as the rest of you to find that we would meet once again. One might even call it a pleasant surprise.”

Metal walked over to Mitsuki and stared at him as if he truly didn’t believe that it was the Mitsuki they had known all those years ago. Metal hesitantly brought a hand up to Mitsuki and brought his fingers in until only his pinky was out. Metal said barely above a whisper, “Only the real Mitsuki would understand this.”

Everyone seemed to gasp at that. Mitsuki’s eyes were wide but he reached forward and hooked his pinky with Metal’s as if they were making a promise. This caused Sarada to grin at the two boys and march over, “You can’t forget about me, too!”

Boruto watched as Sarada somehow got her pinky in there to make a three way promise with the other two boys. The three linked together looked over at Boruto with a longing look in their eyes. He shook his head with a grin, “If you want me to join you, I’ll join you!”

He walked over and found room for himself to fit into the pinky promise. They all looked at each other and smiled. They closed their eyes and when they opened them, they looked at each other as if they were five years old again. They were all giggling like little kids, each of them enjoying the sound of Mitsuki humming in laughter with them just like he used to when he was younger. They all stared back at each other and everything felt right again.

“We promise to be best friends no matter where we go.”

They had said that promise when they were younger, surprising each other when they knew the promise word for word. This really was Mitsuki. They were all reunited. They hadn’t seen each other in years but in one moment they felt as if they had always been together. Mitsuki smiled at everyone, he didn’t realize this would be what it would feel like to have true friends.

The next morning, Mitsuki was back to carrying around an umbrella and a fan at all times. The three Leaf ninja smirked as they saw Mitsuki release three snakes from his long sleeve before he entered the middle carriage. Each snake crawled to each person so that they would be able to communicate with Mitsuki through them as they walked. Each snake slithered into their clothes and popped their heads up around their collars of their shirts.

Once the carriages were off, the three ninja were elated that they would be able to speak to Mitsuki the entire trip. This would be the last leg of the journey. Mitsuki would make it to the Hidden Waterfall by the afternoon. They knew that once Mitsuki got to the village he would have to leave to speak with the leader of the village. Then they would be back to escorting Mitsuki until he made it back to the Leaf. From there he would be on his own until he made it to the docks.

“So why do you need us, Mitsuki? Not that we can’t handle it but you’re a ninja, too.”

“It’s frowned upon for a prince to participate in ninjutsu, I suppose.”

“You suppose?”

“Have you seen any other princes being ninjas as well?”

Boruto put a finger to his lips as if he was trying to recall if there were any other princes that were ninjas. He couldn’t think of any. He let out a huff of air in frustration before asking, “Then why don’t you end that stereotype and be the first ninja prince, you know?”

As Sarada droned on about how influential it would be for Mitsuki to be the first ninja prince, Boruto could tell that Mitsuki wasn’t even listening. He already knew that Mitsuki was thinking about whether he wanted to make it known that he was a ninja and a prince. He was probably thinking about the impact it might have on his kingdom. Mitsuki did have a job to do. He couldn’t do anything he wanted whenever he wanted. There were rules for a prince to follow.

“I think you’re right, Boruto.”

Everyone made a noise of confusion, what was Mitsuki talking about? They all heard Mitsuki’s familiar hum of laughter before he spoke, “I think I want to be the first ninja prince. I think that it was time that the nations knew not to underestimate me.”

“But… wouldn’t that put you in danger?”

“I won’t be in danger with all of you always with me, right?”

“But, Mitsuki, we won’t see you after-“

“No, you misunderstand, Metal.”

Everyone listened as Mitsuki took over the conversation, “My brother had once said to me that he would always be with me. He was referring to the idea that I would live on forever in his heart. He would never be without me and nor would I be without him. I carry him with me always just as I will carry each of you with me where ever I go.”

While Sarada and Metal seemed to be at a loss for words, Boruto snickered and put his hands behind his head, “Well, geez, Mitsuki! I didn’t realize you were such a softie! You always look so emotionless but I guess you were just hiding how sweet you are!”

“Does this mean you do not like my outer appearance?”

Boruto was a blushing mess trying to explain that Mitsuki was beautiful on the outside. While Boruto was trying to redeem himself to Mitsuki, Sarada and Metal could be heard giggling through the snakes to their friends. Boruto meant well with what he was saving but he had to have known Mitsuki couldn’t really read between the lines.

“Hey, Mitsuki,” Boruto started rather nervously, “would you be able to just back out of the conversation for five minutes? There’s something I really need to talk to Sarada and Metal about. I swear you can come back into the conversation in five minutes!”

Mitsuki made a noise that sounded like he was nodding. Before Boruto could say anything, it sounded as if Mitsuki had removed himself from the conversation. Sarada was about to ask why he did that when Boruto began, “I need your help, you guys! I need to make Mitsuki mine!”

“And how are we going to help with that? If you want him then tell him.”

“Sarada, you know Mitsuki’s clueless! He won’t understand!”

“You make it sound like he’s dumb or something.”

Metal was able to find his words after quietly listening to the two of them, “B-Boruto… we do not have much time left with Mitsuki. If… if you are going to make a move I think it would be best that you do it when we reach the village. If you do not say anything… you will lose him again.”

“Again?”

The bowl cut male nodded before continuing, “We lost Mitsuki when we were kids. He was out best friend and we let him walk out of our lives. I believe that if you let him walk out of your life again then you will not recover… nor would I or Sarada but it would be more bearable for us… but you love him… don’t you?”

They heard Boruto let out a loud sigh before he said softly, “Yeah… I really care about him, you know? These feelings for him run deep… my old man said that mom was weird when they were kids and he still thinks she’s weird now… I thought Mitsuki was weird and I still think he is. I think that Mitsuki’s the one I’m supposed to end up with, you know?”

“All because Lord Seventh called your mother weird?”

“It’s more than that!”

The two friends were surprised by Boruto’s sudden drive to talk about Mitsuki, “He’s not just weird! He’s beautiful, no doubt, but he’s got this beautiful mind, too! He’s so smart and I just get this feeling he’s really in touch with what’s going on around him! He’s so strong, you know? He’s a ninja but he’s also a prince… he’s got a good head on his shoulders and someone like that is so hard to find.”

They could tell Boruto was smiling as he went on, “He’s the same as I remember when we were kids. He was different from everyone else but I was always so interested in him. Even if I didn’t show it at first, I thought he was beautiful and all I wanted to do was to get to know him. I’ve got the chance to really get to know him and I can’t let it slip away, you know? I really think he’s the one.”

Sarada and Metal gave a hum in agreement as a response. Mitsuki was definitely different but he was a good person. Everything about him drew them all in, especially Boruto. Boruto was right when he said that he was drawn to Mitsuki. All Boruto wanted to do was to be with him and hang out with him like they were two normal people instead of a prince and ninja.

“Am I able to return to the conversation?”

Everyone laughed at Mitsuki requesting to be let into the conversation again. The friends agreed to let him back in, causing the four of them to return to a casual chat. They all talked until they started getting close to the village, causing Mitsuki to state, “I sense many chakras ahead. We will be arriving very shortly.”

“What do you mean that you ‘sensed’ them?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I am a sensory type.”

“What else can you do?”

“You’re still quite curious, aren’t you, Sarada?”

Sarada fixed her glasses with a smile on her face, what a Mitsuki thing to say. The blue haired male smiled as he spoke, “Seeing as how we have a few minutes, I should let you know what abilities I possess. I can use wind and lightning styles and I am skilled in many escape tactics. I can also summon snakes and-“

“What are you hiding, Mitsuki?”

Mitsuki gave a hum of laughter before he answered her, “You really are Sasuke’s daughter, aren’t you? I knew as soon as I mentioned the snakes that you would know of my origins. I am indeed the child of Orochimaru. I am in regular contact with him through a shadow clone or these snakes. It’s quite helpful, don’t you think?”

“Wait… who’s this Orochimaru? I don’t understand!”

“If you paid any attention to history lessons you’d know, Boruto!”

Sarada and Boruto argued with each other for the remainder of their trip. Once they arrived at the gates of the Hidden Waterfall, the guards made it clear that Mitsuki would have to travel on foot as the carriages would take up too much space in the streets. Mitsuki agreed to this and even agreed to leave his umbrella behind to not attract a lot of attention.

As the squad walked with Mitsuki to the tower, Boruto couldn’t help but get as close to Mitsuki as he could without it looking suspicious to others. He didn’t want to draw any extra attention to Mitsuki but he couldn’t help but want to be close to the blue haired male. They were just about to reach the tower when a little girl ran forward and latched herself onto Mitsuki’s legs.

Everyone was about to try to pry her off when Mitsuki shook his head at them. He put his fan into his kimono and reached down to pick up the little girl. He smiled at her as he asked, “I can sense you are distressed. Are you lost, child?”

“Y-Yeah… you look like my mommy.”

“I see. Well, my name is Mitsuki. What is yours?”

“I… I’m Kei.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kei. Let’s say we find your mother?”

Kei nodded her head and despite everyone telling Mitsuki to stop, he walked right by all of them. He concentrated on finding a chakra similar to the little girl’s and then walked off in that direction. After turning around a few corners he was able to locate a hysterical woman with short blue hair asking people if they had seen her child.

When the woman turned and faced Mitsuki, she raced to him upon seeing her child in his arms. The woman knew who he was and instantly bowed in respect to him. She was frantic as she spoke, “I-I… I am so i-incredibly sorry to inconvenience you, prince of the Moon. I am so grateful that you found my daughter… I am forever in your debt.”

“Kei is going to be a light in a cold world so please do look after her.”

The woman instantly gasped at those kind words. She bowed again to him but Mitsuki used his free hand to reach under her chin and smile, “Please, take your daughter and enjoy the rest of your day. If you are in need of anything please let me know. My kingdom and your village are to be allies.”

She nodded back and took her child back from the prince, smiling at him and bowing once more. Mitsuki watched as the woman took Kei away. Mitsuki couldn’t help but shake the memory of Mitsuki being carried by Log when he was a child. He was snapped out of his thoughts when a paper bomb was thrown right in front of him.

“Mitsuki, get out of there!”

The blue haired male was able to extend his arm to grab a building, allowing himself to be yanked into the wall of the building. He heard the explosion go off and was thankful the worst he got from that attack was a bruise from crashing into the building. He saw his squad running towards him but they were cut off him another squad of ninja jumping in front of them.

There were six ninja that were guarding one larger one. The larger ninja turned to Mitsuki, smirking at the fact that he was on his hands and knees on the ground. The man walked over to him and crouched down, grabbing the prince’s cheek and forcing Mitsuki to look at him.

The man had a raspy sounding voice as he spoke, “I understand you killed the guy I hired you bring you to me. Now I thought that you would want to come willingly to me. I wanted to sell you but from looking at you I think you would be better screaming out my name… just say it… Akashi.”

Mitsuki glared at the man and swatted his hand away only to get his hair harshly grabbed. Mitsuki gasped in pain as his hair was yanked, causing Boruto to yell at Akashi, “Hey! Let go of him! I swear if you hurt him I’ll-“

Akashi threw Mitsuki across the floor and into the wall, causing the blue haired male to struggle to get up to his hands and knees again. Akashi grinned as he hissed, “You’ll do what? You’ll do nothing! You better shut your mouth over there because there’s nothing you can do about this. I’ve got you surrounded. You have no choice but to let me have my way with him.”

Akashi was about to punch Mitsuki when the blue haired male looked down but he was surprised when Mitsuki was able to snatch the fist without showing any sign of shaking due to the pressure the other male was putting on the punch. Mitsuki looked up at Akashi and glared at him, causing the enemy to retract his fist.

“I wouldn’t underestimate me, if I were you.”

In the matter of seconds, Mitsuki was enveloped in green chakra and a horn sprouted on his forehead. Black was splattered across his eyes and veins of black shot towards his temples. His eyes glowed yellow and cyans of snakes appeared to come out from the ground and surround the prince. Mitsuki had entered his sage mode and underwent a sage transformation as well.

Everyone was absolutely terrified by the changes Mitsuki had just gone through. Mitsuki looked utterly frightening if you had asked the enemy ninjas. Some of them tried to take off so they wouldn’t be attacked but Mitsuki was too fast and summoned snakes to tie the runners up. He had determined that none of them were going to make it out alive.

Mitsuki ran towards Akashi and immediately punched him into the wall. Mitsuki was too fast for Akashi to keep up with so he had no choice but to take the punches and kicks that Mitsuki gave to him. Mitsuki grabbed him by his throat and smashed him into the wall of a building, causing the wall to crack under the pressure Mitsuki was delivering.

Akashi had no idea that Mitsuki was this strong. He had severely underestimated this prince. Mitsuki leaned in and whispered so snake-like into Akashi’s ear, “You wanted me close before but tell me, Akashi, how close is too close? I would like to be close enough to you to rip our your heart with my bare hand.”

Everyone watched in horror as Mitsuki raised his free hand and altered his form so that it was sharper. His nails had somehow sharpened to the equivalence of a sword. Akashi spit out blood as Mitsuki carved out a hole in Akashi’s chest and ripped out his beating heart. The veins were sliced, completely detaching the organ from the body and thus killing Akashi.

Mitsuki stared down at the dead body as if it was nothing and then he looked at the heart with the same look in his eyes. One of the enemy ninjas threw up as they saw the heart was still beating in that pale hand. Mitsuki stared at it as he squished it in his hand, the blood splattering on his face and even his clothes but he didn’t seem to mind it. Mitsuki turned to the enemy ninja and hissed to them.

“None of you will make it out of here alive.”

No one could even get a word out as Mitsuki’s arms extended and grabbed the two ninjas who tried to make a break for it. He dragged them over to him and then ordered the snakes to eat the two ninjas alive. The snakes didn’t hesitate at all, they were thankful that for once they were allowed to eat a human.

Mitsuki turned to the remaining four ninjas, eager to see which one would try to engage him first. One ran at him with a sword and swung at him but with Mitsuki being in his sage mode meant that he was much faster than everyone else. Mitsuki had already evaded the attack before the ninja had even swung his blade at him.

The blue haired male grew tired of the slow pace of the battle so he swiped the blade from the enemy and slashed across his chest. The ninja fell to the ground and was about to get back up but he found himself getting stabbed through his chest. Mitsuki had aimed for the heart so that the death would be instant. 

Two ninjas ran at him next, each of them slashing at him with swords of their own. Mitsuki didn’t realize how stupid these people were to think that the two of them combined would be enough to stop him. Mitsuki avoided each attack and disarmed them, kicking their swords out of their hands and forcing them to the ground.

The ninjas tried to counter but they found Mitsuki’s arms outstretched around their necks. They tried to pry him off of them but they quickly found their necks snapped. Mitsuki tossed the dead bodies to the ground as if he had grown uninterested in them. His head shot up at the last ninja, who had grown scared enough to take Boruto as a hostage. Mitsuki glared at the man and if looks could kill then he would’ve been dead.

“You will release him and your death may be quick.”

“Nobody move! I’ll let him go when I’m a safe distance away!”

“You must be mistaken because you’ll never be safe from me.”

The man held up a kunai and backed away in fear as Mitsuki stalked towards him hissing with venom in his voice, “No matter where you go or what you do I will hunt you down and I will kill you for touching Boruto. I would find you and I would torture you mercilessly for days on end until you can’t even tell time anymore. You’ll forget how long I’ve been torturing you and just when you think it can’t get any worse and you’ve lost the will to live I’ll give you a kunai… and you know what you’ll do with it?”

The man had backed up into a wall, terrified that Mitsuki was now standing right in front of him. The green sage mode chakra seemed to be swirling on him like it was a fire and the chakra snakes surrounding him had started to hiss at the enemy. The ninja’s shaky eyes met Mitsuki’s glowing yellow ones and that’s when it was over.

“You’ll kill yourself.”

Everyone watched as the enemy seemed to willingly release Boruto and then take out a kunai of their own. Boruto ran back to his team and they all watched as the man took his kunai and slashed his won throat. Sarada took note that the man gave off the appearance of someone who had just been hypnotized due to a genjustu. Before she could say anything, the enemy used the remaining energy he had to stab himself in the chest. The man dropped to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

Mitsuki looked over at his friends and gave an emotionless smile, sending shivers down their spines. He walked over to them and as he did the green chakra seemed to vanish. He stood before his friends as a normal person again as he stated, “If you all do not mind, I would like to continue with my mission.”

As Mitsuki tried to walk past them, Boruto grabbed his wrist and pulled him against his chest. Mitsuki’s eyes widened as he heard Boruto whisper to him, “You don’t have to be so cold anymore. I know you have something to prove now but… I don’t want to lose you.”

“You could never lose me, Boruto.”

“What do you-“

“You don’t have to look for me because I will always find you.”

“Just know, I’d always find you, too, you know?”

When Boruto pulled away, Sarada pushed into Boruto just as Metal pretended to trip and fall into Mitsuki. Boruto and Mitsuki were pushed into each other, thus forcing their lips to come into contact with each other. Sarada and Metal smiled as Boruto and Mitsuki eventually melted into the kiss and even into each other.

Boruto wrapped his arms around Mitsuki’s slender waist while Mitsuki snaked his arms around Boruto’s neck. When they pulled away from each other they knew that this couldn’t be the last time they kissed. Boruto was about to go in for another kiss when Konohamaru coughed, causing both males to retract from each other.

“Prince Mitsuki, you have a mission to complete.”

Mitsuki nodded back to Konohamaru and the entire team walked Mitsuki to the tower in silence. It took an hour but Mitsuki was able to complete an alliance between the Hidden Waterfall and the Land of the Moon. Mitsuki said nothing as he entered the middle carriage, letting the assistants know that he was ready to go home.

The remainder of the trip back consisted of the four friends talking through the snakes during the day and meeting with Boruto during the night. Mitsuki loved the time he got to spend talking to everyone but he had come to the conclusion that he liked the moments where it was just him and Boruto together.

It was the last night that Boruto believed that he had made progress with Mitsuki. They were sitting on a rock in the forest, both of them sitting across from each other. Boruto had finally said something that made Mitsuki let out an actual laugh and that’s when Boruto just grabbed his face and kissed him.

“Your laugh is the best sound I have ever heard.”

Mitsuki had just smiled in return and then placed a pale hand on Boruto’s, which were still very much present on the blue haired male’s cheeks. Boruto blushed and quickly removed his hands back, causing Mitsuki to hum in laughter at the blonde’s actions. Mitsuki had determined that Boruto was weird but he liked it.

“You know I’d swim the ocean for you, Mitsuki.”

“Why would you swim when you could travel by boat?”

“You’re missing the point! It’s-“

“Does this mean you’ll visit me when I have to leave?”

Boruto remained quiet at that question. He looked down at his hands and a sad look etched itself on his face. Mitsuki had tilted his head in confusion at the change in Boruto. Mitsuki knew he had to do something to make it better so he reached forward and cupped Boruto’s cheeks in his hands. Mitsuki gently made Boruto look up and when he did, he gasped at the beautiful smile on the prince’s face.

“Whether you see me or not, I will always love you.”

Mitsuki had left after he said that, leaving Boruto in his thoughts for the rest of the night and for last leg of their journey to the docks. When they arrived at their destination, each of the friends took their turns in saying their goodbyes to Mitsuki. Metal had cried as he hugged Mitsuki while Sarada hugged him and threatened to punch him if he didn’t keep in contact with them this time.

It was just Boruto and Mitsuki at the end of the docks. Everyone was watching them from the dock beside the boat and each of them were hopeful that this would end well for both of them. Mitsuki smiled as Boruto asked lamely, “So… this is it, huh? You’re going home…”

“It would seem so.”

“You’re so difficult, you know?!”

“No, I didn’t know that.”

Boruto seemed to explode at Mitsuki as he exclaimed, “You’re just so frustrating! You don’t tell any of us who you are and just when we all get close again, you leave! You’re so confusing, too! You tell me you love me and then you still go ahead and leave! I don’t understand!”

“I’ll miss you, too, Boruto.”

The blonde gasped at the other male’s words. Mitsuki was smiling at him and his head was tilted just like he normally would. Mitsuki continued to smile as he stated, “I would love to stay here with you all but I am the prince of the Land of the Moon. I cannot stay here. I must return and fulfill my duties as a prince… and as a ninja. They say the heart grows fonder with distance but I don’t think I believe that.”

Mitsuki walked to the edge of the docks and looked out at the ocean as he continued, “The ocean is vast and stretches onward past the horizon. You may never know what could be beyond the horizon. I believe that the same can be said towards love. You may never know what could happen if you choose to love someone but isn’t that why people yearn for it? People like the excitement of not knowing what happens when you truly love someone.”

Boruto had no idea what Mitsuki was talking about. He was trying to figure it all out but it was too late when he finally did. Mitsuki’s boat was taking off with the prince on board. The ship was about to leave the docks when Sarada and Metal stood beside the blonde. Sarada looked over to her teammate in disbelief.

“So, you’re just gonna let him go that easy?”

“Nothing’s easy when it comes to Mitsuki.”

“But?”

“But I can’t let him get away!”

Sarada and Metal sighed and smiled as they grabbed Boruto and hurled him into the water. The blonde gurgled out a ‘thanks’ to his friends over his shoulder and then proceeded to track down the boat. He swam as fast as he could and he was only thankful that the boat had not taken off into its full speed just yet. Boruto caught up to the boat and scaled the outside of the boat, throwing himself onto the boat like a fish out of water.

Boruto was trying to catch his breath, he didn’t realize just how tiring it would be to swim off after a boat. He squinted his eyes as someone seemed to stand in front of the sunlight. When his eyes adjusted, the familiar sound of a snake-like voice echoed in his ears, “What are you doing here, Boruto?”

The blonde grinned up at the prince and slowly got himself back up to his feet. Boruto was sopping wet but it didn’t bother Mitsuki in the slightest. It didn’t even bother him when Boruto wrapped his arms around his waist. The blonde was grinning as he spoke, “Don’t you remember, Mitsuki?”

Mitsuki blinked a few times in confusion but his eyes soon closed as Boruto’s lips touched his own. The blonde knew that this was where he needed to be. He needed to be with Mitsuki. When they both pulled away they could hear their friends cheering for them. Their foreheads touched just as the boat blew its horn to signal that they were officially taking off.

“I love you, Mitsuki. I would swim the ocean for you.”

Six months later….

Needless to say, Naruto was not happy that his son decided to spontaneously hop on the prince’s boat and sail to the Land of the Moon. Needless to say, Mitsuki’s parents were not expecting their son to leave for a mission to form an alliance and then come home with a boyfriend. So let’s just say everyone’s parents were not expecting that to happen.

Eventually Boruto’s family cooled down and were actually okay with him being so far from home. They had come to realize that Boruto was never supposed to reside in the Leaf. Everyone had come to see that Boruto was better off exploring the lands with Mitsuki had his side. One day, Boruto would rule the Land of the Moon alongside his lover.

An everlasting peace was made between the Leaf and the Moon, this peace had allowed Orochimaru to be granted access to the Land of the Moon to check up on Mitsuki. Mitsuki was standing out on the balcony, which was overlooking the garden where his lover was growing acquainted with his adopted family and also his family he had with Orochimaru.

Mitsuki sensed his brother’s chakra and smiled when he heard his footsteps drawing nearer. Mitsuki smiled at the nostalgic sound of Log taking out a cigarette and then clicking his lighter to start it. Mitsuki seemed to just breathe in and out with his brother. Mitsuki didn’t know he could feel this happy. Everything had seemed to just fall into place and he didn't realize that could happen for someone like him.

Log walked over and watched the sunset alongside his brother. Log looked over at his little brother and smiled softly, “You really have come a long way, Mitsuki. I still remember the first time I met you when you were five years old. You... you really changed by life. I can't thank you enough for simply being you. I don't who I would've been if I never knew you.”

“You’re still my whole heart, Log.”

“I can say the same about you, Mitsuki.”

The older clone let out a puff of smoke before turning to face Mitsuki. The smaller male faced his brother and gasped at Log’s words, “You will always be my whole heart, Mitsuki. As much as I love being your whole heart I think it’s only fair that you let Boruto have just as much of an impact on you as I do. I’m glad you found him. He really is your sun. I can't illuminate your path... but he can.”

Mitsuki smiled at his brother and hugged him, surprising Log enough to drop his cigarette. Log hesitated but held his brother close. Mitsuki felt his brother kiss the top of his head and it only made him smile harder. Mitsuki had longed to be able to be this close with his brother again. Eventually they pulled away from each other and continued to watch the sunset.

Mitsuki gave a slight hum of laughter as he heard Log light another cigarette to make up for the one he had dropped. Mitsuki gave Log a look out of the corner of his eye and to anyone else it would’ve scared them… aside from the part where he was fighting a smile from plastering itself on his face. Log gave a playful glare back at Mitsuki.

“Don’t look at me like that! I can stop smoking any time I want!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading till the end! I just wanted to add that little bit at the end so you could all see what happened after Boruto just spontaneously took off with Mitsuki to the Land of the Moon!I also just wanted to add in another quick Mitsuki and Log brotherly moment because I adore them together! I apologize for any mistakes! I really hope you all liked it and if so I'll keep putting more work out here! I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!


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